Ireland Open Data: Issues and Challenges

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Ireland by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Are clouds lifting from Ireland's reluctance to participate in releasing open data to the public? Given the glowing report by the OGP one would think that open data is about to become mainstream within the Irish National Government. In a June 17th OGP blog posting http://blog.opengovpartnership.org/2013/06/3354/ +Denis Parfenov expresses optimism on the following announcement:

On May 20, 2013, the Irish Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr Brendan Howlin, announced that Ireland has sent its Letter of Intent to join the Open Government Partnership.

"I look forward to working with citizens, civil society interests and business on the development of Ireland’s first National Action Plan of commitment required for full OGP participation”, Mr Howlin said.

“I hope that civil society and citizens at large will use the OGP as an opportunity not only to encourage greater transparency and to open the doors of government to greater scrutiny but to increase citizen engagement in the reform effort overall."
“I look forward to working with citizens, civil society interests and business on the development of Ireland’s first National Action Plan of commitment required for full OGP participation”, Mr Howlin said.
“I hope that civil society and citizens at large will use the OGP as an opportunity not only to encourage greater transparency and to open the doors of government to greater scrutiny but to increase citizen engagement in the reform effort overall.”
- See more at: http://blog.opengovpartnership.org/2013/06/3354/#sthash.CIqbzVd9.dpuf
“I look forward to working with citizens, civil society interests and business on the development of Ireland’s first National Action Plan of commitment required for full OGP participation”, Mr Howlin said.
“I hope that civil society and citizens at large will use the OGP as an opportunity not only to encourage greater transparency and to open the doors of government to greater scrutiny but to increase citizen engagement in the reform effort overall.”
- See more at: http://blog.opengovpartnership.org/2013/06/3354/#sthash.CIqbzVd9.dpuf
“I look forward to working with citizens, civil society interests and business on the development of Ireland’s first National Action Plan of commitment required for full OGP participation”, Mr Howlin said.
“I hope that civil society and citizens at large will use the OGP as an opportunity not only to encourage greater transparency and to open the doors of government to greater scrutiny but to increase citizen engagement in the reform effort overall.”
- See more at: http://blog.opengovpartnership.org/2013/06/3354/#sthash.CIqbzVd9.dpuf
“I look forward to working with citizens, civil society interests and business on the development of Ireland’s first National Action Plan of commitment required for full OGP participation”, Mr Howlin said.
“I hope that civil society and citizens at large will use the OGP as an opportunity not only to encourage greater transparency and to open the doors of government to greater scrutiny but to increase citizen engagement in the reform effort overall.”
- See more at: http://blog.opengovpartnership.org/2013/06/3354/#sthash.CIqbzVd9.dpuf

“I look forward to working with citizens, civil society interests and business on the development of Ireland’s first National Action Plan of commitment required for full OGP participation”, Mr Howlin said.
“I hope that civil society and citizens at large will use the OGP as an opportunity not only to encourage greater transparency and to open the doors of government to greater scrutiny but to increase citizen engagement in the reform effort overall.”
- See more at: http://blog.opengovpartnership.org/2013/06/3354/#sthash.CIqbzVd9.dpufHowever, while the weather included sunshine on my trip to Ireland access to data is still rather cloudy. Denis Parfenov and I spoke privately about this announcement last week while I was in Dublin. Denis is the OKFN Ambassador to Ireland and a tireless evangelist for open data world-wide. There is concern among open data advocates within Dublin circles that this announcement and the formation of a Government Action Plan as noted in this Irish Times article is a distraction from making data truly accessible.

The Irish Times article references only that Minister Howlin will consult with "open data specialists" and members of "civic society" without making any statements as to who specifically these groups would be or how they would be selected for consultation.

Recently I was honored to be able to have a conversation with my counterparts and colleagues in Ireland. +Dominic Byrne and +Denis Parfenov led the 9th Open Ireland Meetup.

This meetup was an excellent summary on comparing municipal open data issues between the US (Open Raleigh) and Ireland (Fingal and Dublin). Pauline and Dominic spoke well and used concrete examples to make their points. Open Data Ireland Meetup #9 can be found at http://blog.esri-ireland.ie/2013/07/23/open-data-ireland-meetup-9/.

Open Raleigh and local Ireland efforts share many of the same challenges (funding and access to cross jurisdictional data) but also many differences. These differences can be summed up as issues of privacy and the cost gateway of information requests.

My next posting will be about the commonality of open data initiatives world-wide and the issues we all face regardless of the style of government. I hope that Open Fingal, +Dominic Byrne, +Denis Parfenov become part of the process to opening data to the people of Ireland.

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